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Title: The Southwest Airlines Way : Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve High Performance by Jody Hoffer Gittell ISBN: 0-07-139683-7 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 19 December, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.82 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Packed with Knowledge!
Comment: If you've wondered what's behind Southwest Airlines' uncommon success, wonder no more. Author Jody Hoffer Gittell lays it all out in The Southwest Airlines Way. Gittel, a university professor, explains that at Southwest Airlines, relationship building and collaboration aren't just given lip service - they're a condition of employment. This is an excellent case study of the airline and its competitors, wherein Gittell reveals the characteristics that make Southwest shine, traits other airlines have tried hard to emulate. She makes a compelling case for the power of relationships inside, outside and at all levels of the corporate hierarchy. Meticulously researched and offering abundant industry testimonials, this corporate exploration doesn't feel like yet another marketing book. We think this excellent exposition is just the ticket for corporate leaders who want to know not just how Southwest did it, but how they can do it too.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great research;super book on facing competitive challenges i
Comment: Many business owners often ask the question: How can my business become more successful, more profitable like some specific business they may know of or have read about in a business periodical. There are numerous books published in the "how to" area; Jody Hoffer Gittell's book, The Southwest Airlines Way, is, in my opinion, THE book for any manager in any type of business to not only read but to implement any number of the suggestions made in the book to face competitive challenges faced in their own business. After reading the book I was particularly impressed with the amount of and time spent gathering research for this impressive business book. The author explains very well many practices that Southwest utilizes in it's business that has sustained it's success of 30 years of growth and profitability.
As I read the book, and unlike many books that one reads a few pages at a time, I could hardly wait to turn the page to continue reading about the superior theory of relational coordination as developed by the author. I suppose the author could have chosen some other type of industry and company to research and write about but in a time that many many airlinesare bleeding "red ink", going out of business or filing for bankruptcy, the author writes about perhaps the most successful airline ever in the USA. In the book the author writes: "However, the Southwest model is still not well understood." I can understand why: not enough managers have read this exceptional book! Therefore my conclusion can be stated as: Memo to Managers: If you "Don't Get It"-Get It! -this book. As the Executive Producer and host of the highly acclaimed business tv show, "Business Beat Live" on which Jody Hoffer Gittell was a guest, I have read hundreds of business books and interviewed their authors; in my opinion this book ranks a "10". Read it and you'll see why.
Rating: 5
Summary: Southwest's "Eternal Flame"
Comment: Why can't other companies (not only airlines) become as highly admired as well as profitable as Southwest Airlines? Here is an excerpt from Herb Kelleher's presentation at the Risk Management Association's annual conference: "Maintaining excellent customer survives involves a process of getting people to understand the importance of it to them in their daily lives as well as in others'. We were a little concerned as we got bigger that maybe some of our early culture might be lost so we set up a culture committee whose only purpose is to keep the Southwest Airlines culture alive. Before people knew how to make fire, there was a fire watcher. Cave dwellers may have found a tree hit by lightning and brought fire back to the cave. Somebody had to make sure it kept going because if it went out, there was was the most important person in the tribe. I said to our culture committee, 'You are our fire watchers, who make sure the fire does not go out. I think you are the most important committee at Southwest Airlines.' I really do believe that to be the case. We have people come in from all over the world who are interested in our culture because they see it in the customer service aspect of it."
Kelleher then notes that "Southwest Airlines had 162 companies at our last corporate day [open house], which we have twice a year. We started them off that day with the Macarena and they were all wondering, 'Hmmmm....I was looking for E=mc2 and I'm getting the Macarena.' But a fellow from Swiss Air was interviewed when he left and was asked, 'What's the most important message you're taking back to Swiss Air?' And he said 'For everybody to learn to do the Macarena.' Everybody's looking for a single Big Answer, an easy answer such as 'We'll communicate for six months, then get on with something else that's more important.' I keep telling them that the intangibles are far more important than the tangibles in the competitive world because, obviously, you can replicate the tangibles. You can get the same airplane. You can get the same ticket counters. You can get the same computers. But the hardest thing for a competitor to match is your culture and the spirit of your people and their focus on customer service because that isn't something you can do overnight and it isn't something you can do without a great deal of attention every day in a thousand different ways. That is why I say that our employees are our competitive protection."
I cannot think of a better introduction to Gittell's book, nor to my comments on her book. Although she identifies "Ten Southwest Practices" and devotes a chapter to explaining each in Part 2, her key point (and Kelleher's) is that high performance relations are the key to Southwest's success. Gittell includes these comments by a Southwest ramp manager:
"One thing we cannot teach is attitude toward peers or other groups. There's a code, a way to respond to every individual who works for Southwest. The easiest way to get in trouble is to offend another employee. We need people to respond favorably. It promotes good working relationships....You find an individual with an upbeat and positive attitude -- and you'll find that everything that needs to be done, will get done. It's very contagious." I have been a Southwest frequent flier since 1976. Not once, even once, have I ever had a less-than-pleasant experience with anyone within the Southwest organization. Kelleher is appropriately praised for his vision, charm, business acumen, inspiration, passion, determination, wit, etc. He should also be praised for the leadership he has encouraged and supported at all levels of Southwest. In my opinion, that is his single greatest contribution. As Jim Collins describes it in Good to Great, "getting the right people on the bus."
In Part 3, Gittell explains how the "Ten Southwest Practices" reinforce (or undermine) each other; she then suggests what can be learned from Southwest, briefly discussing efforts by competitor airlines; next, she examines how Southwest responds to pressure and manages crises (e.g. September 11); finally, Gittell offers a number of suggestions as to how other organizations can implement high performance relationships. There is nothing wrong with any of those suggestions. However, obviously, listing the "Ten Southwest Practices" is far, far easier than convincing or inspiring most (if not all) people in another organization to follow them all day, every day, year after year. And it is even more difficult to create such buy-in when an organization is undergoing extensive growth and sustains it profitably as Southwest has. Especially in the ferociously competitive airline industry, the Yoda's admonition is correct: "Do or do not. There is no try."
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Title: Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success by Kevin Freiberg, Jackie Freiberg ISBN: 0767901843 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 17 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Southwest Passage: The Inside Story of Southwest Airlines' Formative Years by Lamar Muse ISBN: 1571687394 Publisher: Eakin Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: No Frills: The Truth Behind the Low Cost Revolution in the Skies by Simon Calder, Freddie Laker ISBN: 185227932X Publisher: Virgin Publishing Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: From Worst to First : Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback by Gordon Bethune ISBN: 0471356522 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 16 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Hard Landing : The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos by Jr. Thomas Petzinger ISBN: 0812928350 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 24 December, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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